


The Centiskorch

by RottenFruitz



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: (Joan is my OC), Blood, Burns, Centiskorch - Freeform, Death, OC, Pokemon, and tag it as graphic depictions of violence, bite wounds, but I want to be on the safe side, the violence here isn't as graphic as it could be
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:02:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23240671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RottenFruitz/pseuds/RottenFruitz
Summary: Hop and his pal Joan head out to gather mushrooms, but they run into a violent centiskorch that's been turned loose in the Glimwood Tangle.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	1. The Attack

“Joan, look!”

Joan turned his head to see what his travelling partner, Hop, was pointing to.

“The ground’s been burnt up here,” Hop was pointing to a strange burn scar on the grass. It was hard to see because the Glimwood Tangle was dark in the first place, but after tapping on a nearby mushroom, it became much clearer. Burnt grass snaked off the path Hop and Joan were following and into the depths of the woods where neither of them had the guts to venture. Joan knelt down next to hop to inspect it closer.

  
“What do you think made it?” Hop asked.

_ ‘Um,’ _ Joan spoke telepathically,  _ ‘Probably a centiskorch, judging by that weird pattern.’ _

“A centiskorch, huh?” Hop muttered, “I hope whoever’s training it knows what they’re doing. I hear they can be pretty temperamental.”

_ ‘Temperamental is underselling it a bit,’ _ Joan said as he stood up. Hop turned to keep going down the path, and Joan started to follow him. As the glow of the mushroom faded, he felt a bit uneasy. When he looked into the forest that the burn trail wound though, he felt as though something else was staring back at him.

“Come on! I think the really rare mushrooms are up here somewhere,” Hop called out from further ahead on the path.

_ ‘Sorry.’ _ Joan caught up to him and continued down the path by his side.

The rest of the journey through the Glimwood was strangely uneventful. The forest was devoid of pokémon, except for a single phantump and a shiinotic Joan saw briefly. Hop found the mushrooms he wanted, then they stopped to camp and cook some curry for their pokémon. When it started to get late out, they packed up their camp and began to head back. The air had grown uncomfortably chilly, and it would probably only be getting colder.

As the two boys went back down the path, they passed the centiskorch track again.

_ ‘There’s more tracks now,’ _ Joan pointed out the new ones as they passed them.

“What?” Hop squinted and tapped on a mushroom. As light flooded the small area of forest, more centiskorch tracks came into view. They ran around and over the path in various directions. “Huh, must’ve been some training session. Or maybe it was a battle! Maybe they got jumped by a bunch of impidimp?”

Joan wasn’t convinced.  _ ‘I haven’t seen a single impidimp since we got here,’ _ he said,  _ ‘Actually, I’ve only seen two pokémon this entire trip.’ _

Hop looked around. “Oh, uh,” he said, “You haven’t? I wasn’t paying attention.”

Both the boys turned their heads as something cried out from the woods. A lone impidimp ran past them. It was terrified and crying out for help. Before Hop could stop to ask it what was wrong or figure out how to help, Joan was tugging on his sleeve, trying to get him to move.

_ ‘We need to go,’ _ Joan said urgently,  _ ‘NOW.’ _

Hop was confused, but he followed Joan as they ducked off the path and into a thick cluster of trees. The air around them suddenly began to heat up. It wasn’t unbearably hot, but it certainly wasn’t the right temperature…

Then, Hop saw it. A centiskorch appeared from the woods. Its belly burnt the grass as it crawled along the floor. Its body was generating enough heat to considerably warm the air around itself. It was trainerless, too. Hop figured that it’d been dumped there by some irresponsible trainer or breeder. The centiskorch scanned the forest with ravenous eyes, but before it could see Hop, Joan pulled him behind cover. The impidimp was with them, too. It looked like it was ready to bolt.

Hop tried his best to calm the impidimp down as the centiskorch got closer and closer to their hiding spot, but it was no use. Without warning, the little pokémon burst out of the trees and made a break for better cover. The centiskorch growled and leapt at it, but the impidimp turned around and bit it on the face. The larger pokémon flinched, giving the nimble impidimp just enough time to squeeze into an abandoned den and hide.

For a moment, the centiskorch considered going through the effort of breaking the den open to get to the juicy treat inside, but caught a whiff of the bigger morsels nearby and decided to go after that scent instead.

It turned around and began searching for Joan and Hop, who had switched hiding places at the last second. The two boys were now hiding further in the woods in the branches of a large tree. They would have loved to run down the path and back to Ballonlea, but a fully grown centiskorch would run them down with ease, and if they did escape, they could lead it back to the tiny town.

For a moment, it seemed like the centiskorch might’ve lost them. It had come closer, yes, but it hadn’t look up yet, so that was—

The sound of a branch snapping made both the boys freeze in place. Hop looked down. He had stepped on a branch that was a little too thin to hold his weight, and it had broken. The centiskorch was now standing at the base of the tree, its eyes narrowed up at them. They didn’t need to look at it to know it was mad, the sudden temperature change told them all they needed to know.

Before the boys could do anything, the centiskorch had whipped its burning hot body at the tree. The tree was only cut halfway, but the rest of it was rapidly burned through by fire. The tree fell, and Joan and Hop went down with it.

The centiskorch roared and launched itself towards them, the heat coming off its body turning the nearby plants to ash. Hop stumbled backwards, fumbling for one of his pokéballs as the centipede-like pokémon got closer. Joan was also trying to grab his own, but they’d scattered across the ground when he fell, and they were rolling away from him.

Before either of the boys could summon their pokémon, the centiskorch was on top of them. Burning air seared their faces, and they both put their arms up, hoping to lessen the severity of the burns. The centiskorch took the opportunity to bite down on Hop’s arm and pull him off his back. It’s bite was as blisteringly painful as he feared it would be. His flesh was being burnt to a crisp and ripped apart at the same time. He screamed as the pokémon started to drag him away, reaching out with his free arm for anything he could find to slow the monster down. His pokéballs rolled out of his bag as the centiskorch continued to roughly pull him across the burnt grass.

Two of the pokéballs burst open on their own, and before the centiskorch knew what was happening, Pebble and Inteleon were on top of it. The centiskorch screeched and dropped Hop, so it could attack Pebble. It’s fangs cracked the coalossal’s rocky hide, but before it could deliver any venom, it was pulled off. Inteleon hissed and spat a jet of water at the centiskorch’s body, but it did less damage than she was hoping, and she quickly realized that this was no ordinary pokémon. Even with their type advantages, they weren't a match for the centiskorch’s raw power.

The powerful pokémon whipped its body at its attackers and sent them flying. Pebble’s shell shattered in some places, and Inteleon was sure that she had broken something when she landed.

Hop had crawled back to where Joan was, but both of them were too scared to move.

“It’ll kill them!” Hop said, “We have to do something!”

Joan grabbed Hop’s hand as he reached for another pokéball.  _ ‘We can’t!’ _ he said,  _ ‘It’ll kill all our other pok é mon, too!’ _

The centiskorch had wrapped itself around Pebble, and despite Inteleon’s best efforts, it wouldn’t let go. It kept on tightening its grip, increasing the heat to a point that Joan and Hop could feel it from several meters away. The surrounding area began to burn. The trees, the mushrooms, the nearby pokémon that had hidden themselves in tight nooks and crannies; everything was engulfed in searing heat.

Hop and Joan could only watch in horror as Pebble’s rocky exterior began to crack. He howled in pain and struggled to free himself, but no amount of fighting helped. Inteleon tried one last time to get the centiskorch to let go, aiming a Snipe Shot at its face. This time, the centiskorch was the one screeching in pain as it let go of Pebble to go after Inteleon instead. Rather than using its fire, the centiskorch charged at Inteleon headfirst and bit her on the leg. When it was sure it had a firm grip, it tossed her up and into the burning ground, knocking her out cold. It turned around to face Pebble again, but the large coalossal had fallen over, its wounds too large and painful for it to move.

The centickorch looked around. All the other pokémon of the Glimwood had fled in terror, so that just left…

Joan and Hop froze as the centiskorch came towards them. It’s battle had only made it hungrier.

“Oh god,” Hop said as he pulled Joan into a big hug, “We’re gonna die. We’re gonna be eaten alive. Oh god, I’m sorry I dragged you out here to gather mushrooms!”

Joan didn’t answer. His eyes were wide and fixed on the centiskorch as it came closer. He was almost too terrified to do anything. Almost.

Right as the pokémon opened its jaws, something swept it off its feet. The centiskorch was hoisted into the air as if a pair of invisible hands had scooped it up. The monster flailed, trying its hardest to escape. It spit fire and snapped at the whatever unseen force was carrying it higher into the air, but it was no use. When it was hoisted up to the Glimwood's canopy, it was abruptly flung down.  _ Hard. _

The centiskorch hit the ground head first and fainted on impact. The heat instantly disappeared, and the forest became cool again. Hop wasn’t going to stick around to see what had lifted the centiskorch up, nor if the thing was dead. 

Now that the adrenaline was beginning to wear off, Hop could feel the pain in his arm. It burned like worse than anything he’d ever felt before. The entire front of his body hurt, too, and his clothes were singed. He started to feel a bit light-headed and realized he had to get somewhere safe fast. He shakily grabbed Joan’s arm so he could pull him to his feet.

“Come on! We’ve gotta get out of…” Hop stopped mid sentence. Joan had fainted already.  Blood was running down his nose and out the corners of his mouth, which was something Hop had never seen before.

“Oh no…” Hop whispered to himself. He wouldn’t be able to lift Joan up in this condition. He could barely lift himself up thanks to all the burns the centiskorch had given him. Hop took his rotom phone out his pocket and dialed his brother’s number with shaking, burning fingers.

After a few seconds, Leon picked up.

Hop didn’t wait for his older brother to say anything. There was no time. Every movement he made was painful and he could feel his eyelids growing heavier by the second.

“Lee,” Hop said weakly as he began to slump against Joan, “Glimwood Tangle… please… help…”

Before he could hear his brother’s reply, the phone slid out of his hand. His eyes shut against his will and he passed out.


	2. The Ending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the centiskorch attack.

When Hop woke up, he was no longer lying on the cool grass of the Glimwood Tangle. He closed his eyes right after he opened them and groaned. The light felt blinding compared to the darkness of the forest. It took a second for his eyes to adjust to the bright white lights above him, but his vision was still a little fuzzy. A young audino sat next to him, listening to his heartbeat with the strange, curly extensions on the underside of its ears.

Ah, he must be in a hospital.

Hop’s throat seemed to hurt worse than anything else, and when he spoke his voice came out in a strained corviknight squawk. “Nurse?”

The audino looked up at him, surprised. Upon seeing he was awake, it clapped its hands gleefully and ran over the other side of the room. It stopped in front of some chairs. A charizard sat in one, and two sleeping people sat on either side of it. They were both curled up underneath blankets. The audino said something to the charizard, then the charizard gently shook the people sitting next to it. Something stirred, and a disheveled mop of purple hair appeared from underneath a blanket.

  
“Lee!” Hop said weakly. He tried to sit up, but the audino ran over to him and made him lie back down. It lightly scolded him and stepped to the side as his brother ran up to him.

“Oh my god, Hop!” Leon pulled hop in a bewear hug, much to the audino’s annoyance. Hop had never been hugged so tight in his life, not even by his big brother. He was worried his blood flow might be cut off if it went on any longer. “I was so worried about you! I got the call, and you wouldn’t answer me, and I thought, we thought you’d…” Leon refused to let himself finish the sentence. He pulled away from Hop at the audino’s request and ruffled his brother’s hair. “I’m just glad you’re alive. Don't scare us like that again.”

Hop shuddered at the thought of being a centiskorch’s dinner. “I won’t,” he whispered, “I promise.” Leon’s charizard had also come up to the side of Hop’s bed. It nuzzled Hop’s cheek and cooed.

Hop’s mum ran up to him next. His vision had cleared up, and he could see that she’d been crying her eyes out.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re alive!” she said, pushing Leon and charizard out of the way so she could shower her son in hugs and kisses. “You scared us, we thought we'd lost you!”

“I’m sorry, mum,” Hop muttered, wincing as the hugs irritated his burns. He knew that it wasn’t his fault someone let that stupid centiskorch loose, but he still felt bad. Especially since he was the one who asked Joan to…

_ “Joan!” _ Hop sat up again, and audino groaned. “Oh my god Joan, is he okay? Are our pokémon okay?”

“Woah, slow down there,” Leon said, “All your pokémon are being taken care of, they’re getting on fine. Joan’s been awake off and on since he got here. I checked on him and his mum earlier, and he wanted me to let you know he’s okay.”

“Oh, thank goodness,” Hop said.

“I suppose I’ll let Joan know you’re doing good, too, when I get the chance,” Leon said, brushing his hair out of his face. Before Hop could say anything else, he changed the subject. “Look, before you say anything else, I just wanted you to know that the centiskorch’s been taken care of, alright? The impidimp that ran into you told us everything. We tracked the bugger down and got it.”

That knowledge made Hop feel a little better, but the bite wound and the burns still hurt. He slumped back into his bed and sighed. The audino went back to checking on him. “Oh, thanks.”

“If you need anything, just let us know, alright?” Leon said, brushing hair out of his face, “I mean, if the nurse will let us, I can pop downstairs real quick and get you some crisps, or a bit of soda.”

Soda would’ve sounded great any other time, but Hop’s throat was sore enough as is. He didn’t think a fizzy drink would help. “Just some crisps and some water,” he said.

“Alright,” Leon nodded and left with his charizard. Hop’s mum stayed by his side, and did her best to not upset the audino any further while she showered him with even more affection.

——————————

Hop found out from the news that the centiskorch had been killed with the help of his brother, and the police were trying to find who set it loose. Nobody could figure out what had lifted the centiskorch into the air, so they chalked it up to the activity of another strong pokémon in the area. Hop has his own ideas of who the culprit was, but he figured it was best kept a secret.

It took a while before Joan, Hop, Pebble, or Inteleon could leave the hospital, and they were still in pretty poor condition when they left. Both the boys and their pokémon went back to Potswick to recover. When they were hurting too bad to go outside, they spent most of their time watching pokémon battles broadcast on the TV (they were especially fond of Leon’s battles). Otherwise they’d be out practicing their own battling skills with their uninjured pokémon in short sparring matches that their parents would watch, just in case. Hop had to relearn how to throw a pokéball with his left arm, but other than the one time he hit Joan in the face, he was getting on well.

Finally, when their parents let them go out on their own again, Hop and Joan decided to set up camp in the wild area right outside of Hammerlocke. While they were making curry, Hop decided to ask Joan something.

“Hey Joan?”

Joan looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

“Do you remember when the centiskorch got lifted up in the air?” Hop asked.

Joan looked a bit uncomfortable.  _ ‘Erm…’ _

“It was you, wasn’t it?”

_ ‘I, it uh,’ _ Joan stammered,  _ ‘When I get scared stuff like that just happens sometimes. I didn’t hurt you with it, did I?’ _

“Oh no, of course not!” Hop said, “You saved my butt!”

Joan relaxed.  _ ‘Thank god,’ _ he said. He leaned in closer to the pot to toss some sliced apples into the curry.  _ ‘So, uh, you’ll keep that a secret, right?’ _

“Of course,” Hop said with a smile. He threw his arm over Joan’s shoulders. “Your secret's safe with me, pal.”

The two boys kept on making their curry, and their pokémon slept peacefully beside them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully the Alternate Ending will be out soon after this! :)


	3. The Alternate Ending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What if Hop and Joan hadn't been found in time?

“Leon!”

Leon looked up as someone from the search and rescue team ran up to him. It had been an hour since he’d gotten a call from Hop. He’d been crying and his voice was faint. He had only managed to hear that he and his friend Joan were in the Glimwood Tangle before the other end went silent, and he’d frantically called the police.

“We found this sir,” the man handed him a rotom phone, “We also found a coalossal and an inteleon, and several pokéballs scattered around nearby.”

The rotom phone looked up at Leon with sorrowful eyes. “Oh god, what happened?” Leon asked, not sure he wanted to know the answer.

“A centiskorch attack, we believe. The tracks on the grass and the severe burning of the environment suggest that one was let loose here,” the man said, “The local pokémon tell us it was eating all the smaller pokémon here until…”

Leon shook his head. “No,” he muttered. He felt sick to his stomach. His brother couldn’t be…

“Sir, I’m sorry,” the man said as he looked down at his boots, “but if the eyewitness reports are true, then, they’re probably gone.”

Leon almost fell backwards, but his charizard caught him before he hit the ground and gently sat him down on a nearby tree root. The champion’s energy had suddenly been drained from him. His head felt like mush, and his vision became blurred as tears began to pool on the surface of his eyes. He stared at Hop’s rotom phone as if it might give him an answer, but it averted its gaze.

“We’ll comb the forest for bodies, sir,” the man shuffled his feet while he spoke. “You can go home.”

But Leon didn’t go home.

Despite his charizard encouraging him to leave, lest he see something horrible, the champion searched the Glimwood top to bottom, praying Hop might somehow be alive. Praying that the centiskorch had decided it would save them for later. When it got late and the air had turned frigid, Leon was still there. Even after his mum called him, begging him to come home before he fell victim to the centiskorch that was still loose in the woods, he stayed. And his charizard, ever faithful, stayed right alongside him, searching.

Finally, after two hours, Leon found them.

Deep within the woods, an arm poked out from a thick patch of ferns. Leon recognized the jacket the moment he laid eyes on it, and froze in place. His charizard saw it too, and growled quietly, pleading Leon to stay away, but it was too late. The champion was on his knees, pushing apart the ferns to reveal Hop. He was half-eaten, with most of his body below the waist completely gone. Not too far away, Joan was there, too. He was in a similar state, though his eyes were closed.

Leon took a second to process what he saw. Then he screamed. He screamed so loud his throat became raw and sore, and he didn’t stop until his charizard came next to him and hugged him. His charizard and the search team tried to get him to stay away from the bodies, but he was too distraught to listen. He sat on his knees and cradled Hop in his arms, silently begging for it to be a nightmare. Everyone let him stay that way for a few minutes, then his charizard gently pried Leon away so the authorities could do their work.

Charizard flew Leon back to his house, where his mum and Joan’s mum had already gotten the call. They sent Leon upstairs to wash off the blood, then they all sat in the living room, quietly crying on each other’s shoulders.

When the time came to hunt the centiskorch down, Leon jumped at the opportunity to beat the thing into the ground. His friends were concerned, they told him he should stay home and mourn, they told him the centiskorch was extremely dangerous, but he didn’t listen.

He spent the next day hunting the thing down. Nobody had ever seen him so bloodthirsty before. He’d gone right back to where he’d found Hop and Joan, and lo and behold, the centiskorch was there, searching for its meal.

Leon ambushed it with his charizard and haxorus. The fight between them was brutal and long. Half the Glimwood Tangle was burnt to a crisp during the fight, but Leon came out victorious (if not severely injured). But Leon didn’t just want  _ victory _ , he wanted  _ revenge _ . He wanted that centiskorch to feel every bit of pain and suffering Hop and Joan must’ve felt when it ate them alive.

He killed it.

He killed with his own two feet, and broke its head open under his boots while it lay writhing in pain on the grass.

Nobody saw him do it, thank god. He felt sick right afterwards. The thing probably would have died anyway, probably via humane lethal injection, but this felt more wrong than that. Hop wouldn’t have wanted to see him this way.

He went home and washed blood off his clothes for the second time that week. The news said nothing about how the centiskorch died, only that it was dead. Leon was grateful for that. All he wanted to do was mourn, and go to Hop’s funeral, and then Joan’s funeral. He didn’t want people to keep  _ talking _ about it all the time.

It was all he heard. A horrible buzzing in his ears anytime he stepped outside.

_ “I’m sorry for your loss.” _

_ “That’s a horrible way to die.” _

_ “He’ll always be in our hearts.” _

Leon didn’t do another pokémon battle for a long time. When Hop died, something in Leon had died along with him. When he made his grand return, the people noticed how some of the fire was gone from his eyes. He still fought like a champion and acted like his old self, but it was obvious that what had happened had taken a toll on him.


End file.
